Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Permanently Suspend "Parody" Accounts As Users Impersonate Him

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WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 09: Elon Musk, founder and chief engineer of SpaceX speaks at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition March 9, 2020 in Washington, DC. Musk answered a range of questions relating to SpaceX projects during his appearance at the conference. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Elon Musk says that Twitter will permanently suspend verified accounts impersonating other people.

Elon Musk says that Twitter will be permanently suspending verified users who impersonate other people, as a wave of accounts have changed their names to "Elon Musk" while making fun of the platform's new owner.

"Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended," Musk began. "Previously, we issued a warning before suspension, but now that we are rolling out widespread verification, there will be no warning. This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 02: Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

He clarified: "Any name change at all will cause temporary loss of verified checkmark."

Comedian Kathy Griffin is one of the most noteworthy names to have been suspended from the platform for impersonating Musk in recent days.

The move comes as Musk has faced backlash for his decision to charge $7.99 per month for a verification checkmark on the platform. He is also being criticized for having let go a massive chunk of Twitter's workforce. The firings resulted in a class-action lawsuit that cites the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The law requires at least a 60 days notice prior to such massive layoffs.

After the lawsuit was filed, Bloomberg reports that the company is asking some of the fired employees to return to work.

“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” Musk tweeted in defense of the move on Friday. “Everyone exited was offered 3 months of severance, which is 50% more than legally required.”

Check out Musk's recent tweets below.

[Via]

About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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